Step 15: Trussed for Transport

Step 16: Advanced

Below is a bottle with some additional trussing. You can be creative as you want. It all starts with a re-purposed container and the Jug Knot (and e...

Tie a JUG KNOT around a water bottle, soda bottle, or aluminum bottle to make a secure carrying strap.

Re-purpose any container into a reusable water bottle by adding a convenient carrying strap. This Instructable will demonstrate how to tie a JUG knot which like its name suggests, is meant to properly secure around the neck of a container.

With some cord and the knowledge of this knot, you will be able add a handle, lanyard, or carabiner loop to any of your favorite beverages to carry them on the go.

It works perfectly for those disposable water bottles, and who knows, once you add some colorful cord to the plain old clear water bottle you just might be inclined to refill it and use it again.(Check out pictures 4&5 below)

In addition to plastic beverage bottles like pop, water and sports drinks, you can turn those rugged aluminum beer bottles into a backpacking canteen.

BSA Troop 45 (Oxford, MS) uses the enclosed two methods to secure a water bottle for hiking. Both methods use 6 feet of 1/8 inch diameter rope. (The length of 6 feet keeps the rope very usable and serviable. Also for knot tying practice the rope needs to be at least 6 feet, any length less makes it harder to understand to knots use).

1) Ancient Egyptian Jug Knot- A bead has been added for decoration (after the knot is made and still in a loose condition, with one of the loose ends, thread the bead and slide it in position- up around between and down to the enclosed loop) . The carring strap may be adjusted by the double fishermans knot (or inside figure eight).

2) Bottle Sling- This is a teaching tool for knot tying and learning each knots use.

Thank you so much for the super clear tutorial :) I received a solar lantern cap a while back, but haven't really tried to use it for camping with my Nalgene because I didn't have a good way to secure it to the bottle (and being so used to the attached cap, I figured I would surely drop the thing at an inconvenient time, with it rolling over a cliff or something equally dramatic--that's just the way my luck typically works). This, however, worked on the first try and looks great :D Thanks!

I commend you on the clear, easy-to-follow, precise instructions. The idea of marking the bights made this a very simple knot to tie. If there were any ratings that went above 5, no matter how much, I would give them to you. Keep up the great work. To sum up what I've written, EXCELLENT JOB!!!!!

I grew up calling this knot the Anga-gah-sec-agnute (sp?)...not sure if my Grandfather made the name up or it was the scandinavian name. He also said that the vikings would use this to tie a line to their "spirits" and other beverages, then throw them overboard to keep them cold. Anyone ever hear this or was I the victim of childhood gullibility? I currently use it on my key chain.

I haven't heard of this, but, if Vikings kept their water/spirits in glass or ceramic bottles it would be VERY possible that they did this. I'm not sure if it would work using some sort of container made from an animal bladder. I do this (this being hang my water bottle over board) when I'm out on an expedition kayaking trip. I lead 5 day kayaking trips along the North Carolina outer banks. To keep it cool I'll often use a carabiner to lash it to my deck rigging and drag it with me. The sound isn't that much cooler than the air, but if I store my water in my cockpit with me, it still gets warmer than the water in the sound. On the deck of the kayak it'll get as hot as bath water. Out on the ocean, where the Vikings would have been sailing, the ocean water would be pretty cold even on hot days and would keep tasty beverages pretty cool.

Oft times, in days of yore, containers made of animal bladders were covered with a natural waterproofing material such as insect shellac or some sort of tree sap or gum. This kept bottles from leaking. It didn't keep them from aquiering,(sp), an off taste. The coating also made them hard and they could be hung with out distorting.

I've been to about a half-dozen other sources and is this is the first one that explained the knot in a clear, easy-to-follow fashion. Most sources fail around the point where you begin crossing loops over, but you did an excellent job of explaining those steps. Kudos to you; keep up the good work.

I love the cork stopper. How did you cut a hole in the synthetic cork so that it looks so nice and clean? I was thinking about drilling a hole but that seems like it would look ragged. Also, where did you find a cork that was plain white? All the synthetic corks I see from wine bottles have something printed on them like grapes or something.

Hey great Instructable, I got a new bottle from an expo that I went to on the weekend and it was great for holding it. Do you think you could post an Instructable about different trussing techniques? Any way, thanks. Favourited, and here are some pictures.

I always carry my load-bearing Carabiner with me (on my beltloop). If I flip it so the skinny side is down, I can insert a bottle and slide it down, it locks in place because it is a perfect fit. That's how I carry my water bottles with me :P

I just did one of these for a bluegrass fest I just went to. I didn't have an aluminum bottle so I used an big old Chimay bottle and a natural cork. Very cool. I cut up some old can coozies to keep the bottle cold and protected.

i made an awesome water bottle thanks to you! i got a sweet half liter glass bottle from the army surplus store (the type made for corks), and managed to secure a champagne cork on the knot! thanks a lot, i have the coolest water bottle ever :) <3

Here is the complete set of pictures I took. It includes close ups of all the knots - <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtadlock/tags/jugknot/show/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtadlock/tags/jugknot/show/</a><br/>

Very nicely done. Two things though: 1. For a first timer, it would be helpful to know how long a piece of cord to use. You say to put the bight in the middle of the cord, but a 24" cord or a 24' cord? 2. It would be nice if the first picture had some size reference. A pencil or a hand or something. The mat and the arrows make it very clear what steps, but they do not give much sense of scale. Thanks for a great set of directions!